Gear shift mechanism



Jan. 20, 1953 D. H. SPANGLER GEAR SHIFT MECHANISM Original Filed Nov. 4,1948 m .M s a a. w. a 1 WW ww w w m a B M /A Z U 23mm W3 W Li 6 Z! 2 m 3H,." u W 6 7 0 z a a W 5 V Y M EL \\U fi 1 H 9 2 9 d a W am 4. 7 fl/ d dZ a Z 9 a a a M w y z w z a i Z A a 9 2 1% w 2 ,4

Patented Jan. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEAR. SHIFT MECHANISMDaniel Herbert Spangler, Hamburg, Pa.

Original application November 4, 1948, Serial No. 58,178. Divided andthis application January 24, 1951, Serial No. 207,611

6 Claims. '1

The present invention relates to gear shift mechanisms. The applicationis a division of my application for Motor Vehicles, Serial No. 58,178,filed November 4, 1948.

Large capacity trucks now in Operation include motors, transmissions,wheels, axles and tires of substantially larger and far more expensivetypes than the much more numerous lower capacity trucks, for example,trucks driven by a one hundred horsepower motor. For that reason, theinitial cost of a large capacity truck is proportionately much greaterthan that of a truck of lower capacity. Also, because in the largecapacity trucks, the above-mentioned parts or elements are of specialdesign, they can only be serviced by especially trained mechanicsworking in especially equipped service plants. These factors makelargecapacity trucks proportionately more expensive to operate and maintainthan trucks of lower capacity.

An object of the present invention is to provide a truck having a loadcapacity equal to the maximum load limit and size, but which truck is sodesigned that it may be constructed of the parts ordinarily providedupon trucks of much lower capacity.

Attainment of the above object enables the vehicle of the presentinvention to be produced of standard parts of relatively low. cost, withthe result that the first cost of the truck will be relatively low.Inaddition, because the parts used are of widely known and used types,the vehicle can be s erviced by mechanics at a service station providedonly with normal equipment, via, equipment such as is widely providedfor work upon smaller and more widely used trucks.

In order to compensate for the high cost of motors and other elements ofthe usual high capacitytruck, most operators use tractors and trailersto thereby offset high costs by increased availability of loading. Thisadvantage is substantially offset by the lower safety factor involved inthe use of trailers. In any event, because the vehicle of the presentinvention can be built of standard and relatively low-priced elements,the initial cost of a given number of the vehicles of the presentinvention will be less than, or will very favorably compare with, thecost of the number of tractors and trailers necessary to give the sameavailability of loading.

Said original application discloses a vehicle including a plurality ofselectively usable motors. A vehicle constructed in such manner iscapable of being operated despite the failure of one mo- 2 tor. Inaddition, if the load to be handled is, less than the capacity of themotors, such motor or motors as are not required to handle the loadmaybe disconnected from the driving wheels.

An object of the invention is to provide a gear shift for multiplemotors and which will permit motors to be disconnected from the drivingwheels.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing specification and accompanying drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the gear shift of the invention.

Figure 2 is a view of the gear shift taken at right angles to the Figure1 showing and looking toward Figure 1 from the left, and

Figure 3 is a detail section on the line 3-.3 of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 260 designates the floor of thevehicle cab 228, and

the numeral 262 designates a bracket securedto a plate 263 which iswelded to the upper edges of two bars I86 which extend between and abovethe transmissions 24a and 26a of the two internal combustion engines ofthe vehicle. As is disclosed in said original application, the motorslie side by side but with their center lines diverging about 12 towardthe front of the vehicle. As explained in said original application,each motoris connected to one of the two rear axles of the vehicle. Amaster gearshift operating lever 264 has its-lower end pivoted uponbracket 262 by means of a universal joint 266. Master lever 264 extendsupwardly through the floor board 260, its upper portion 270 preferablybeing rearwardly angled as shown in Figure 1 from a point immediatelybelow the floor board. Portion 210 has a rod 212 secured to its upperend which terminates in an operating knob 214 of usual form. The majorportion of lever 264, including portion 210, is formed of square tubularmaterial. Just below portion 210, lever 264 has a casing 216 fixedthereto, casing 216 comprising a plate 218 carried at the forward sideof lever 264 and a plate 28!] carried at the rearward side of the lever.The two plates are joined by a bottom wall 282. As is clear from Figure2, the casing 216 is of substantial width laterally of lever 264. Keyelements 284 and 286 of right angled form as viewed in front or rearelevation are mounted in the casing 216, one at each side of the lever264. Each key element 284 has its horizontal leg 288 extending beyondthe ends of the casing 216 and at their free ends the legs 288 carryeyelet mem bers 290 apertured to surround the shift levers 292 and 2 3of the transmissions 24a and 26a of the respective motors. The eyeletmembers 298 engage the levers 292 and 293 with such a fit that theeyelet members may slide vertically with resnect to the levers and thele ers may swingvertica ly with respect to the eyelet members. The shiftlevers 292 and 293 extend u wardly above the eyelet members 298 for asufficient distance.

that a lever and an eyelet member cannot become disengaged during thenormal shifting op erations discussed below.

The vertical leg 296 of each key member 284 and 286 has a rod 298extending upwardly therefrom. through the floor board, and thencethrough a horizontal plate 380 fixed to the lower end of portion 218 ofmaster lever 268. The'upper ends of the rods 298 may be bent asindicated at 382 to form a handle whereby they may be grasped andlifted. A fastening means 384 may also be provided u on the plate 306 tonormally lock the rods 298 against upward movement with respect tocasing 216 and master lever 264.

Two cross plates or webs 396 connect the plates 21B and 288, the websbeing so positioned thatthey will ,be engaged by the outer-surfaces ofthevertical legs 29!; of the angled members 284 shift both of the levers292 and 293 to any position will be apparent. The clutches associatedwith the internal combustion motors preferably will be fluid-operatedfrom a common source so that an equal pressure will be exerted upon theclutches and simultaneous operation of both clutches thereby assured.

In the event that one of the motors becomes inoperative, or if for anyreason it is desired to drive only one of the rear axles of the truck,

the following operations will be performed. Masand 286; In other words,the webs 366 serve to hold the angled members against lateral movementwith respect to master, lever 264. The webs 386 extend along thevertical legs 296 of each of the key members for a sufiicient distanceto prevent the vertical legs from rocking laterally and out of parallelrelationship to the master lever 264. Because the master lever 264 ispreferably square in cross section, and the same is true of the keymembers 284 and 286 (see Fig. 3), the key members, master lever 264 andcasing 278 will have fiat faces in contact.

The lower end of master lever 264, viz., the point -266about which ituniversally pivots, lies on the same transverse line as the points aboutwhich-the respective gear shift levers 292 and 293 universally pivot.However, as is shown in Figures 1 and 2, the universal joint 266 formaster gear shift lever 264 is positioned a substantial distance belowthe points 3") and 3l2 upon whichthe transmission gear shift levers 292and 29 3are pivoted. r

In the operation of thedual gear shift arrangement'described above, withthe levers in the neutral position illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, theshifting movement to low speed position would be accomplished byshifting master lever 2'64 to'theleft'from the Figure 2 position andthen to the rear as viewed in the Figure 1 position." Theleftwardmovement from Figure 2 will will also slide vertically along gear shiftlever- 292' as the latter rocks with respect to the eyelet member. Whenthe rearward movement of the master lever 264 occurs, both eyeletmembers will slide upwardly along the gear shift levers 292 and 293,while the gear shift levers rock forward with respect to the eyeletmembers.

With the above explanation, the manner of operating the master lever 264to simultaneously 364 on plate 396 which normally engages thecorresponding rod 298 to hold the key member against lifting or othermovement with respect to the master lever.

After a rod 298 and key member have been drawn upwardly as justdescribed, the lock device 394 will again be engaged with the rod 293 tohold the key member in a position clear of the upper end'of the gearshift lever 292 or 293. It will be observed from Figures l and 2 thatwhen the upper surfaceof the a horizontal leg 288 of a key member is inengagement with the lower edge of its retaining web 386, the eyeletmember 290 of that key element will be out of engagement with the shiftlever.

When a motor is to be removed from the vehicle as described in saidoriginal application, the

key element 284 or 286 of the gear shift of that motor will be releasedas just described. Thus,

it will be observed that the dual shift is readily releasable for allpurposes.

As is described in said original application, the fuel feed system orcarburetor as well as the transmission brakes of the two motors aresimultaneously operable. It has, already been explained that the twoclutches are simultaneously operable. However, when the transmission ofeither motor has been disconnected from the master lever 264 asdescribed above, all that will be necessary to keep that motor fromoperating will be to turn off its ignition. In other words, because thetransmission of the motor is in neutral position and its ignition turnedoff, the motor can have no effect upon the further operation of thevehicle even if its accelerator and clutch are still operated. It willthus be seen that the invention involves a very efiicient dual gearshifting arrangement which also readily is operable to enable a motor tobe disconnected from its driving axle. Each motor will be of sufficienthorse power to drive the truck at normal speeds and with a substantialload so that either motor may be disconnected when it is desired to doso. A separate ignition switch for each motor will be provided to permitsuch operation. Also, if a motor becomes disabled, the trucknevertheless can be operated at an entirely satisfactory speed and underfull load so that it can reach a service station.

The terminology used in the specification is for the purpose ofdescription and not of limitation,

the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. Gear shifting mechanism for a pair of transmissions comprising ashift lever for each transmission, a master lever pivoted at a pointbetween said shift levers, a pair of key elements respectivelyconnecting said master lever to said shift levers, said key elementsbeing individually slidable with respect to each other and to said shiftlevers.

2. Gear shifting mechanism of the character described in claim 1 whereinthe key members are individually movable with respect to said masterlever for disconnection from said shift levers.

3. Gear shifting mechanism of the character described in claim 2including means engaged to each key element adapted to lock the keyelement alternatively in engaging or disconnected position with respectto the associated shift lever.

4. Gear shifting mechanism of the character described in claim 1 whereinthe master lever is pivoted at a point lying in the same vertical planeas the pivot points of the shift levers.

5. A gear shifting mechanism for a pair of transmissions comprising ashift lever for each transmission, a master lever pivoted at a pointbetween said shift levers, a casing fixed to said DANIEL HERBERT SPANGLERI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,292,910 Thornton Aug. 11, 19422,428,647 Boyer Oct. '7, 1947 2,527,801 Downing et al Oct. 31, 1950

